fall of the Roman Empire, assumed the 

 feudal form for its society; and this form 

 is probably the ground work of our present 

 civilization, substantially the concentration 

 of wealth and power in the hands of a few. 

 In England, vast estates, the greater por- 

 tion «f the country, ie held by a few in- 

 dividuals, some of them of fabulous wealth; 

 and these domains that might feed the hungry 

 millions, are given over to deer parks, and 

 to purposes of waste so far as nine tenths 

 of their product is concerned. On the Con- 

 tinent of Europe land is monopolized in much 

 the same way, or subjected to such taxation 

 to sustain monarchips and aristocracies, the 

 titled rich and the titled poor, the debts 

 growing out of wars and dissensions that 

 al©ne concerned these interests, that no fair 

 remnnerption accrues to the struggling and 

 unnoticed poor. 



In this country our feudalism consists in 

 paying undue respect to wealth, — in the all 

 absorbing attention that is given to riches, 

 — putting into disdain all other human con- 

 cerns. To get rich is the one thing need- 

 ful, and as there are only a few in compar- 

 ison to the great body of the people who 

 possess the requisite talents and tendencies 

 to accumulate, these few are fast getting 

 possession of the property of the country; 

 inequalities are yearly getting broader. To 

 possess land, to possess unlimited quantities 

 of it, to hold it in an uncultivated state, and 

 for children and children's children, who do 

 not need it, and would be all the better 

 without it, — is the mania of our countrymen, 

 — is our madness. It is worse than this, — 

 it is driving the poor and those of moderate 

 means away from the Eastern States, away 

 even from the Western States, toward the 

 setting sun, where they find that the specu- 

 lator, with the visage of Shylock, has al- 

 ready preceded them; and sections held 

 now in the sparsest districts, not far from the 

 Rocky Mountains, are much higher in price 

 than any product of the soil could justify or 

 remunerate. 



We know of nothing that can alter this 

 condition of things; no legislation can reach 

 it; no communist associations or socialist 



sentiments, are worth a straw to remedy it; 

 it concerns alone our moral nature; it con- 

 cerns a higher purpose of the individual life 

 than we have yet reached; it resolves itself 

 into more moderate desires on the part of 

 men in reference to wealth ; it resolves itself 

 into a higher Christianity than the earth has 

 yet seen. If men possess and centre in 

 themselves so much that might belong and 

 be useful to others, we may expect that 

 hunger and destitution will stalk the earth. 

 The poor we shall always have with us, says 

 the inspired testimony; but they may be re- 

 duced to the most harmless proportions, if 

 the inequalities of human condition on the 

 upward side were restrained by some rational 

 check, were tempered more to the matter of 

 fact demands of life. To step away from 

 the scene of active absorbing gain, to give 

 place to others when fears of present or 

 prospective want are not to be thought of 

 — and they would be less thought of in a 

 more equal condition of life — would make 

 this earth an Eden, as the pretty song says, 

 and give opportunity for other labors, other 

 duties, other work. 



With vast properties their arises a horde 

 of dependent beings as a necessary sequence, 

 and through our desire for accumulation 

 we are but repeating a condition of society 

 that makes the old world so repulsive to us. 

 Industry is employed too much in worthless 

 things, to minister to desires that are no part 

 of our necessities, to tastes that are an utter 

 waste of labor, that neither exalt nor purify 

 our manhood; and so long as we adhere to 

 this course the bread question will find it- 

 self as much embarrassed as by the influx of 

 the precious metals, the draughts and inun- 

 dations, the famines and adverse seasons, 

 that now so much occupy our attention. 



-••►- 



When a daughter remarks : — Mother, I would 

 not hire help, for I can assist you to do all the 

 work in the kitchen," set it down that she will 

 make a good wife. 



-*•*- 



Both erudition and agriculture ought to be 

 eecouraged by government; wit and manufac- 

 tures wiU come of themselves. 



Too much sensibility creates unhappiness; 

 too much insensibility creates crime. 



